Moist Rich Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

it's not the Holy Grail, but people like it

In my experience gluten free chocolate cake, and perhaps other flavour cakes made with gluten free flour, can taste a bit powdery. This recipe from Dove's Farm, produces a beautifully moist springy cake. This one is made with a sweetened ganache (chocolate mixed with cream), but you could use a normal buttercream.

The recipe uses milk and oil in the place of the more usual butter. It doesn't matter whether you're an experienced cake maker or not because this cake is really a doddle. Just follow it and stir everything when it says to in the recipe below.

The cake keeps well. But there isn't really a risk of that. Enjoy.

Chocolate cake

• 75g cocoa powder
• 250 gluten free self raising white flour
• 325g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 200ml milk
• 200ml oil
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 125 ml boiling water
• Oil, for tins

Chocolate filling and topping

• 250g dark chocolate
• 250 ml double cream
• 100g caster sugar

Equipment: Three 20cm/8” cake tins, large jug, saucepan and two mixing bowls

Preparation: 

• Pre-heat the oven at 180 C/ fan 160 C/ 350 F/ Gas mark 4
• Prepare the tins, by oiling them or using a baking liner

Method

Cake

• Sieve the cocoa and flour into a bowl
• Add the caster sugar and stir to combine
• Break the eggs into a large jug, add the milk, oil and vanilla extract and beat together well
• Pour the egg mixture into the mixing bowl and mix everything together with a whisk
• Add the boiling water, beating well – this will make a runny mixture
• Divide the mixture between the three cake tins
• Bake for 35-40 minutes – they’ll be springy to the touch and a skewer will come out clean

Cool the cakes for a couple of minutes before turning them out onto a cooling rack.

Filling and topping

• Break the chocolate into squares
• Put the cream and sugar into a saucepan and stir over a medium heat until it’s about to boil
• Pour the cream/sugar mixture onto the chocolate pieces and stir until combined
• Leave to cool, stirring every now and then until you have a thick paste
• Spread the filling over each cake, then stack them on top of each other

Easy orange almond cake - gluten free

Delicious and highly scented, this cake is gluten free and very easy to make.

made with almond meal, the almonds are ground with the skins on

I first cooked this wonderful cake using Claudia Roden's recipe, and I was joining a large group since lots of people include it in their repertoire, for good reason. It is delicious and gluten free. I love the intense orange flavour, the fact that it keeps well, and that it is a very easy cake to make. Also the whole house smells of oranges when I make it. If you have only got clementines or lemons, go with it, all citrus fruit works.

The only fat in the cake comes from the almonds. I have used shop bought ground almonds, I've ground my own both with and without skins. It's called almond meal if you include the skins, and almond flour if you don't, apparently. The difference between home ground and shop bought is in taste, which is all that matters really. You don't get more almond flavour, the almond seems to hold the citrus flavour better. The consistency may not be as smooth, but I prefer that. I can't see the difference between including the skins or not, apart from peeling almonds is no fun at all, and of course the colour is slightly darker.  

Some people include orange flower water, but I like the flavour as it is, bold and gutsy.

This cake also looks great on a plate, the outside cooks to a beautiful tan brown and the inside remains golden orange. It is chic.

If you haven’t got oranges you can substitute them with lemons, tangerines or any other orange citrus fruit. I haven’t tried lime or grapefruit, yet.

If you want to go old school you can use a sieve instead of a blender to pulp the cooked oranges.

Ingredients

• 2 large oranges
• 6 free-range eggs
• 250g/9oz ground almonds
• 250g/9oz caster sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder

Preparation method

• Wash the oranges thoroughly.
• Put the washed oranges into a large saucepan of water and bring them to the boil.
• Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for two hours – making sure that the water doesn’t boil away.
• Preheat the oven to 175C/325F/Gas 3.
• Butter and flour a 23cm/9in cake tin – keep it gluten free and use some ground almonds.
• Leave the oranges to cool, before slicing in quarters. Remove the pips.
• Pulp the oranges in a food processor – make sure it is smooth.
• Beat the eggs in a large bowl and gradually stir in all the remaining ingredients, including the puréed oranges. Mix well. The batter will be a beautiful orange colour.
• Pour the mixture into the cake tin and cook for about an hour, until the cake is a lovely tan colour and has risen.
• Transfer to a wire cooling rack, keeping the cake in the tin. It is likely to break if you take it out too soon.
• When the cake has cooled, carefully remove from the tin.
• Serve as you like – I usually cut into slices. It is lovely with creme fraiche.